When A Marine Comes Along
by Hyou
Summary: What happens when a Marine in the middle of a Fallujah operation drops into the world of Final Fantasy X? A lot of confusion and action. Rated for language.
1. Chapter 1

ok, i got really bored and had no inspiration to continue rebirth or keys to the world yet, so i decided to humour my being a marine and combine it with final fantasy blank look

yea, im really that bored. final fantasy lotto has chosen final fantasy X/X2, dunno which, so i'll just do a...whatever with it.

a side-note, i dont know much about the final fantasy games/stories gasp so i'll be doing my own stories I guess. i'm bored so it'll include some romance and humour. NO, i'm not including myself in this story, this'll be a imaginary person who happens to be a Marine who falls into the world of final fantasy.

this person will start off as a normal person/Marine, no special powers, just what he has on his back and anything else he can carry. but as the story progresses, he'll gain some abilities, kinda like leveling up and gaining certain skills and upgrades, etc. and to humour again, whenever he happens to level to a certain level or so he'll up in the rank structure and sometimes gain a level in his martial arts (MCMAP) belt color and skills. yup, i'm super creative, yea?

now, on with my crazy idea!!!

Disclaimer: I don't claim the Final Fantasy series as my own, I don't even have the games, boohoo.

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**Chapter 1**

**What Happens When A Marine Comes to Town**

"Aaaahhhh...". Rikku enjoyed moments like these where the group was just able to relax and take a break from the pilgrimage. She understood the pilgrimage was important but she was still just a teenager, she enjoyed some...ok, alot, of down time. Her cousin, Yuna, and the rest of the Guardians were over at the lake a little over the ways watching Tidus and Wakka play Blitzball against each other. Yuna was laughing and cheering on both players.

Yup, she loved times like these where even her cousin was able to loosen up and smile again, other than whenever she spent time with Tidus. Even Rikku could see that Tidus and Yuna had something for each other. Lulu didn't approve but Rikku just thought it was cute.

Rikku stretched out and layed back on the grass and closed her eyes. Something really felt off though. She thought she heard something falling from the sky...

**Our World, Fallujah**

"God damn! Jeremiah! Get the fuck out of there, you moron! Machado, cover me! Rodriguez, buddy rushes! Assault through, assault through!"

Lance Corporal Toby Sae's dark eyes were panicked and were looking out for insurgents as they ran through the streets of Fallujah firing at the insurgents on the other side while trying to reach Private First Class Jeremiah. Private Rodriguez ran alongside him firing as well. When they finally reached PFC Jeremiah they dived behind a brick wall. Jeremiah had been shot in the leg and was immobile.

"Fuck, Sae! I can't move! Just go! I'll give cover fire, get to the objective!"

"Moron, we don't leave one of our brothers behind! Rodriguez, get Jeremiah out of here, I'll give you guys cover but you'd better haul ass!"

"RPG!!!"

Sae's eyes widened and he quickly pulled Rodriguez down onto the ground as the the RPG impacted the wall they were behind. The explosion took out over half the wall and the rain of bullets started all over again.

Sae took out a two-way radio and channeled in.

"HQ, HQ! This is Echo Three Sierra, we're pinned down! I repeat: We're pinned down! Second Platoon, Fourth squad, First and Second fire team under heavy enemy fire! Request back-up! Over!"

"...Echo...Sierr-...cannot se...delay...IED...ASAP...Over!"

"OK, Fuck you too! Damn!"

Lance Corporal Sae tucked the radio away and looked to his left to see Jeremiah unconscious and Private Rodriguez desperately sending rounds down range towards the insurgents. Sae looked grimly over the wall and saw a team of five insurgents making their way slowly towards their position while constantly firing at them with their AK-47's. Fuck them and their "spray and pray" tactics.

Sae grasped his M4 rifle tightly and popped over the destroyed wall and started to fire at the insurgents making them jump aside into alleys or other places for cover. He seized this chance.

"Rodriguez, get Jeremiah out of here! I'll hold them back, go!"

"But, Sae-!"

"Shut up! It's my responsibility, I have to look out for the well-being of my fire team! Get him out of here now! That is an order! Machado, covering fire!"

Sae aimed in with his M203 Grenade Launcher mounted on the M4's handguards at the general location of the insurgents still in hiding and fired. The grenade shot out and impacted next to a damaged car and a scream of pain was cut short.

'One down..',

was Sae's grim thought as he fired with one hand while rummaging for another grenade in his drop sack. He quickly unloaded the M203 and inserted another grenade and began firing until he heard a fateful click. The remaining insurgents popped out and began firing at Sae as he swiftly picked out another magazine from his pouch and ejected the old magazine and slapped another magazine in and sent the bolt home. He quickly resumed fire and desperately prayed that God was keeping his fire team safe and that they were well out of harm's way.

"Sae! Get out of there quick! We're up!"

Sae felt relieved but never stopped his assault as he got up and ran for cover and for his fire team. The second fire team had produced an AT4 while their A-gunner kept the insurgents' heads down with his M249. Sae jumped over a low wall and landed next to the wounded Jeremiah. He gasped for air and took off his goggles to wipe the sweat that had accumulated. The Navy corpsman was working hard on Jeremiah.

"Hey, doc, how's our buddy here?"

The corpsman didn't look too happy as he answered.

"Well...let's just say he's a lucky bastard. That round just barely missed his femoral artery but it's lodged itself deep in his leg tearing through his muscles and some ligaments. We need to evacuate him now."

Sae nodded and signaled to the field-radio operator.

"Emergency Evac."

The operator nodded and picked up the handset while the gunners continued their assault at the now reinforced insurgent group slowly advancing to their position.

"HQ, HQ, this is Romeo Oscah 3 requesting emergency evac! Over!"

"...Romeo Oscah 3, this is HQ, I read. What is your location? Over."

"HQ, our location is 8, 7, 9, 4, 5, 6. I repeat: 8, 7, 9, 4, 5, 6. Over!"

"Roger, Romeo Oscah 3. A bird is on its way. ETA: Three, Zero minutes. Over."

"Copy! Out! Lance Corporal! ETA: Three, Zero minutes!"

"Alright, show these bastards what we can do then! Doc, do your best for our buddy, yea?"

The corpsman nodded and continued his bloody job while the remaining six members of both fire teams found concealed positions to continue their assault. The Marine with the AT4 looked over his shoulder and shouted,

"BACK BLAST AREA, ALL CLEAR!"

He hit the trigger and the back blast shot out engulfing the area behind it in a cloud of dust and smoke while the shot impacted in the center of the insurgents effectively taking out three more. Sae aimed in another grenade and fired at a group of insurgents but only took out one but injured two more.

For the next thirty minutes, the Marines fought desperately to keep the insurgents from closing in on the wounded and the remaining Marines. Hope was precious little and several Marines were encountering combat stress with the bloody fire fight that never seemed to end. Soon they all heard a very welcome sound, the sound of a helicoptor's rotors. A Cobra careened it's way and shot suppressive fire at the insurgent group.

"Some rescue coptor... That can't fit all of us..."

Rodriguez groaned until he saw three more on their way.

"Oh, ye of little faith. Shut up and keep shooting! We're far from done here!"

Corporal Hendy shouted commands to the fire teams to keep suppressive fire going to cover for the coptors performing evac. Jeremiah was soon taken up to the coptors as was all the rest of the wounded. One by one the remaining members were taken into the coptors and eventually so was Sae. Inside the coptors everyone began to breathe normally again and refilled their magazines. They wiped the sweat off their haggard faces, sighed, and rested their heads in their hands. Staff Sergeant Reddon turned from his seat in the cockpit and addressed me.

"Hey, Lance Corporal Sae! How was it, being only seventeen and being out on the battlefield for the first time?!"

He couldn't have heard Sae so Sae just shook his head and raised and lowered his arm tiredly.

"Hey, you did alright! You got your team out safe!"

Sae was about to respond when someone screamed again,

"RPG!!"

The Staff Sergeant turned around hastily and cried,

"OH SHIT!"

The RPG took out the rear rotor and caused the coptor to spin wildly. Everyone grabbed onto something but Sae wasn't as fortunate. He was carrying a full pack with all of his belongings. After all, his fire teams had been attacked while on a convoy to their headquarters and he had not had the chance to set his pack down before the convoy was attacked and he jumped out to confront the attackers.

The extra weight on his back caused him to fall out the hatch with a look of shock, unable to latch onto anything. He thought it was taking an incredibly long time to fall and it seemed a little too colorful for his imminent death...

**Back to the Final Fantasy World**

Rikku just shook her head and tried to settle herself in a more comfortable position and sighed contentedly. That was, until she heard a voice screaming from above. She quickly snapped her eyes open and witnessed the strangest thing she had ever seen. It was a boy, a little older than her with a ridiculously large pack on his back, an odd looking helmet and something strapped around his torso. The oddest thing was, he was falling through the sky with no possible explanation as to why he was there at all.

The odd looking boy fell directly into the lake where Tidus and Wakka were playing blitzball with a terrific splash. Without thinking twice, Rikku jumped up, ran to the edge of the lake, and dived in after the boy. She swiftly swam past Tidus and Wakka who looked stunned and grabbed a hold of the boy and tried to drag him up to the surface but was unable to. Tidus and Wakka both grabbed opposite ends of the large pack and quickly dragged him ashore where he started to cough water out violently. They quickly unstrapped an odd looking weapon and his pack off of his body and took the flak jacket off him.

Tidus kneeled down next to the boy and shook him,

"Hey, you ok?!"

Yuna slapped his hand away looking scandalized,

"Tidus! Be more gentle, he almost drowned!"

Rikku giggled a little and turned her attention to the strange boy again. He was wearing what looked like a camouflage uniform but it had a bunch of squares instead of the more organic shapes and it was the color of sand. He slowly began to sit up but still coughed some and started to look around as if confused.

"...Am I-cough, am I in heaven? Am I dead?"

Lulu bent down and examined the boy closely while Wakka clapped the boy's back to help him cough out the remainder of the water. Rikku answered him,

"No, silly! You're not dead, but you almost were! What's your name?"

The boy just continued to look around and shake his head.

"But...I fell off the helicoptor in Fallujah...how am I not dead? ...Oh shit! Where's my fire team?! Jeremiah, Rodriguez, Machado! Where are you?!"

The boy jumped to his feet and began to run but fell to his knees and began to cough violently. Wakka rushed to his side and began pounding his back again. Yuna knelt down next to him and began to chant a spell while resting her hand on the boy's chest. Her hand glowed white for a second and his coughing stopped. He began to breathe slowly and looked up at Rikku who was standing in front of him.

"You..where's my team? Where's the Cobra? Where...where's Fallujah?"

Rikku looked at the boy with a puzzled look. Then she pouted,

"You know...it's only polite to tell me your name when I asked you so nicely."

The boy frowned and jumped up again and stood a few inches in front of Rikku. Just now she realized the boy was taller than her...and just how intimidating he looked.

"I'm not in the mood to joke around! Where is my team! Where am I?!"

Rikku stumbled back, his voice was very powerful for someone who was just about to drown about a minute ago. Tidus stepped forward and confronted the boy,

"Calm down! We don't know who or where your team is and your somewhere near Besaid."

The boy looked at Tidus strangely.

"Be...said? Where's that?"

Now it was the travelers' turn to look at the newcomer strangely. How could this boy not know where Besaid was?

"You don't know where Besaid is?"

"No...listen, can you just take me to the nearest U.S. Council?"

"The what?..."

The entire party looked at each other (Sae included) and wondered when it would end. Then Rikku once again stepped up.

"Well, can you at least tell us your name?"

"...Are you familiar with Saddam Hussein?"

The blank look on Rikku's face was convincing enough that she was not associated with the terrorist...and it was just plain cute.

'What the fuck...where did that come from?'

"Alright then...I'm Sae, Toby Sae."

"Nice to meet you, Toby! This is my cousin, Yuna, this is Lulu, Tidus, Wakka, Auron, and the big blue furry guy is Kimahri."

Toby stared rather warily at Kimahri but eventually said,

"It's...nice to meet you too, I guess..."

He turned around and started to look around the environment. He was so intent on it that he didn't notice Rikku bump up next to him and follow his movements until she whispered in his ear,

"What are we looking for?"

Toby started and looked at Rikku incredulously while she childishly stuck her tongue out at him, winked, and flicked his nose with her finger.

"I...I can't find my team...I don't even know if they're dead or not..."

Rikku's smile slid off her face and a look of shock took place instead. Everyone mirrored her look.

"Oh...I...I'm sorry, I didn't know...But we really didn't know where your team is...sorry.."

"It's..it's alright, you didn't know them...but..I just wish...I wish I could know what happened..."

Tidus heard a sound behind him and he looked around to see Yuna taking her boots off and step off onto the water with her staff. Lulu looked as well and understood Yuna was performing a Sending, even though it wasn't necessary or a qualified reason. Everyone eventually turned to look and Rikku gently shook Toby.

"Hey...watch, it's something special...magical.."

Toby slowly and demurely turned around to witness Yuna's water-walking and her Sending dance/ritual. His look quickly turned to a surprised and amazed look. Rikku noticed and smiled and offered her hand to him. Toby, without thinking, took her hand and continued to watch the beautiful dance. He cried out when a spout of water shot up and elevated Yuna as she continued her dance, uninterrupted. As the Sending came to an end, Toby had a small smile on his face. Somehow he knew it was meant for his friends, whether dead or not. When Yuna got ashore again Toby asked her,

"What was that? How'd you do that?"

"Well..it was the Sending, it's to send the spirits to the Farplane and, well, I used magic and I practiced alot."

"Magic? But...magic's not real..is it?"

Tidus chuckled and threw his arm around Toby. He shared a look of understanding.

"Boy, Toby, have we got a world to show you. Yeah, magic's real! Unbelievable, huh?"

A sudden rustling sound behind the group brought them to attention. A panther like creature jumped out and gave a deafening roar.

"What the hell is that? We've never fought that kind of beast before!"

Toby just said,

"What the fuck is that?!"

The Guardians and Summoner quickly readied their weapons and began attacking the creature while Toby quickly ran over to his gear still on the edge of the lake. He quickly threw on his flak jacket and slung his M4 rifle around his body using a three-point sling. The Guardians were having a little trouble dispatching the creature until they heard a gunshot from behind. They jumped away and witnessed Toby rushing towards the panther firing his weapon at it with uncanny steadiness and accuracy. Every shot was hitting the creature and it was roaring in pain and started to jump around and disappeared from view for a few seconds. Toby looked around for it, weapon still at the ready when the panther rematerialized and slashed at his torso throwing him back. Rikku jumped forward and delivered a smashing kick to the creature and Tidus ran forward to finish it off but was beaten to it when something whizzed past his ear and landed inside the creature's throat and immediately exploded, quickly ending the panther's life, turning it into pyreflies. The party turned to see Toby lift open a tube placed underneathe his weapon and eject a shell and insert another. When he got up, they saw that there was a metal plate underneathe the fabric.

As Toby switched the M4 and M203 to "Safe", Tidus blurted out the question the rest of the party was thinking,

"What are you?"

Toby let the rifle hang freely in front of him and looked back at them and answered,

"Me? I'm a Lance Corporal of the United States Marine Corps."

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so...how does this product of boredom sound? i know it's a little odd and stuff cuz i dont know much about final fantasy X, so if you can, send me some info about it and i'll try to make it better if so you desire.

anyway, this is something for fun, so encourage my fun yea? i'll see you guys around

review?

Ja Ne


	2. Chapter 2

well, a new chapter to this story has been long overdue.

deal with it. i just got internet for my room and now i see fit to write again. i'm full of fresh new ideas for this story and i'm gonna shoot straight along...not. this is just a spur of the moment story, so the chapters will sorta be spur of the moment as well, i'll do my best to not make it mediocre though. have fun

The character here that dies is based on Corporal Dunham. Corporal Dunham is a real life Marine who has died in Iraq protecting his fellow Marines by throwing himself on top of a grenade. He has recently been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions and quick thinking. If we have Marines like Corporal Dunham, we have no fear of the future, thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X but I do own the game now (I'm on the Thunder Plains).

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**Chapter 2**

I don't understand it. I don't want to understand it, really. It's all really just a blur, after all.

There I was, talking to Corporal Cundy, who was driving the seven-ton with my squad in it, asking how long he'd been here and when he was going to go back to America. That's when it all went wrong. An explosion rocked the seven-ton truck and sent it over on to its side with a deafening screech. A series of explosions followed the first and soon almost all transports were taken out. Marines and Navy Corpsman began to scramble out of the crippled machines looking for cover. I got out with my rifle ready and directed my squad to the nearest covered location. All the while, my heart was racing in my throat, my breathing became labored, and sweat began to pour.

This was my first time out in the battlefield with rounds being sent downrange and back, whispering deadly things as they whizzed by. As soon as my team was safe, I jumped behind some cover and began to return fire towards the fortified building that the insurgents were shooting out of.

"This is fucking useless! We need heavy fire power! Olsen, bring the AT-4! Cooper, snipe them!"

PFC Olsen ran over with the AT-4 already on his shoulder and PFC Cooper ran inside the building with his point man escorting him to a higher ground toting his .50 caliber sniper rifle. Over the ways, I saw other squads being overrun little by little, pink mist bathing that area, and bodies of fellow Marines lying still. I was scared.

But...I was more angry than scared, I wanted to pay the sons of bitches back. I tapped the shoulders of my fire team and motioned for them to move with me to a closer location. Taking careful aim we took out the raging insurgents. It was just enough for that squad to relocate itself.

But just as the second Marine was leaving the area a grenade flew in between everybody and time seemed to slow down. All the gunfire, screams, shouts, they all became background noise. Slowly, so slowly it seemed, I grabbed a Marine's flak jacket and flung him outside. What good would it do? We were dead.

Then something flashed by and obscured the grenade from vision. Time seemed to start itself all over again as I saw the body of Corporal Dunham lying on top of the grenade with his Kevlar helmet covering the grenade. As I screamed his name, time jerked back to reality.

The explosion rocked the rest of the Marines in the immediate vicinity but the majority of the blast was absorbed by the Cpl. He was lying facedown with nasty wounds all over him, his helmet blown to shreds of Kevlar fibers. The explosion knocked several Marines and myself back and dazed us. I looked up blearily and saw several more Marines rush in and start evacuating the wounded and Cpl Dunham. I shook my head and reached for my rifle. As I looked over, I saw my good luck charm lying on the sandy floor. A simple star on my dog tag chain, given to me by my ex-girlfriend before I left for Iraq. A story for another time. If there's going to be another time for stories.

I quickly tucked them back into my shirt and grabbed the nearest wounded Marine and headed for cover.

As I reached the rendezvous point, I finally understood what veteran Marines and other service members meant when they said they could smell death hanging around.

Bodies were lying everywhere, either screaming, moaning, gasping, moving helplessly, or just lying still. I stopped for a second and looked around at the hopelessness in that small building, trying to understand.

And the blood, I can't ever forget the blood. There were trails of blood, drops, even puddles of blood on the dirty floor. I looked down on my desert camouflage utilities and saw blood sinking in, blood from the Marine I was carrying and from a couple of cuts, scrapes, and shrapnel wounds I had taken. I turned away and walked to find an available space to lay this Marine down.

As soon as I layed the wounded down, I chose a spot that was relatively deserted, took off my Kevlar, and puked my guts out into a corner. Even after I was done, I dry-heaved because of my lack of food for the past few days. I reached around for my canteen and took a few quick sips of water and breathed heavily, resting my head on the wall. I looked outside the window and everything seemed to be quiet for now.

On the other side of the building I heard a radio operator call in for an evacuation team. I dragged myself over to my fire team and got their status reports. Luckily there were doing fine, just a few cuts and bruises.

"Sae! We've got two 46's and a 53 coming in to evac and resupply! ETA forty-five minutes!"

I nodded and slowly stood up and surveyed the room again. The screaming had stopped but the moans were greater in number, it was hard to tell which was worse.

"Lance Corporal!"

I turned around and saluted Second Lieutenant O'Brien, my Commanding Officer. He saluted back and put me at ease.

"How are you feeling? You're team all alright?"

"Yes, sir. I'm doing alright and my fire team is fine. My entire squad could be doing better though, sir."

After that, Hell decided to light up.

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As I fell off the helicoptor, I could swear I felt droplets of water rising while I was falling and an odd fin looking thing drew beside me. I also heard in my head more than my ears, a voice telling me,

"You're story is just beginning."

Then I saw a bunch of colors and felt as if I were falling into a fathomless chasm. I heard screaming and saw them pointing at something beneathe me before I breathed in fresh, untainted air and saw a sky too perfect to be real. Maybe it was just my final fantasy.

SPLASH!

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"And that's how I ended up here. I don't know if that makes any sense to you but that's my story."

LCpl Toby Sae finished recounting his tale up to this point and took another swig of water from his canteen and wiped his lips. They all seemed mesmerized, although for different reasons. Lulu and Wakka probably thought he was nuts, Kimahri was standing a ways away, Rikku looked amazed, but Tidus, Auron, and Yuna looked like they had a case of deja vu.

"No."

Everyone turned to Auron, looking very confused (except Kimahri).

"That's not your story, not yet."

Tidus looked at Auron funny and turned to stare at Sae, looking as if he knew exactly what was going on. Rikku, on the other hand, still looked amazed but was just as stumped as everyone else was. She had always loved fantasy stories and this one turned out to be real life (or so she believed) and she was ecstatic.

"Wow! That's so cool! You're, like, a dimension hopping hero kinda guy!"

It was Sae's turn to look confused. He rose a scarred eyebrow at her and just had to ask,

"So...you're sure Besaid isn't a place for loonies?"

Rikku, once again, pouted and harrumphed while Wakka retorted,

"Well you sure where you're from they don't have a bunch of bad-haircut, badly-dressed weirdos?"

Now that was a blow to Sae's pride, for it was true, he did have a bad haircut and military utilities hardly offered any fashion sense.

"...Nice cowlick."

"Now now, boys, play nice."

Lulu spoke up after getting tired of hearing the useless conversation going back and forth. She began to pack her belongings and everyone else followed suit.

Sae began to reassemble his rifle and was reaching for his handguards when he noticed the absence of an odd weight hanging around his neck. Frantically, he scrambled with his blouse and undershirt only to find that his dog tags and his good luck charm were missing. The others hadn't missed his odd behavior.

"Toby, what's wrong? What are you looking for?"

"Crap! I lost my dog tags and my good luck charm!"

"Dog tags? Why would you be carrying around tags for dogs?"

"No time to explain! Help me find them! They're on a light, beaded chain somewhere!"

Tidus decided to cut in at this point. He had seen something floating down the lake that resembled a chain when he dragged Sae up to the shore.

"Uhm, I think they fell off when you fell in the lake."

"What?!"

With another almighty splash, the frantic Marine dove into the lake and began his quick descent. Wakka and Tidus jumped in after him in a heartbeat. Surprisingly enough, Sae seemed to be a fine swimmer, about par with Tidus while playing blitzball. This proved troublesome to them trying to catch up and help.

When Sae reached the bottom, he began to scan the surface for any glint or hint of where his chain might be. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something glittering on what seemed to be an old machine. He quickly swam over and was relieved to find his dog tags and good luck charm. Swiftly, he grabbed them and was about to swim away when the machine seemed to give in to some internal pressure and opened a latch.

Inside the little compartment, Sae saw an odd looking grid with a bunch of spherical shapes indented into it and connected by lines. He quickly decided to take it back up with him and grabbed it along the way. Soon, his head burst to the surface as he gulped in precious air. He swam over to the shore once more and secured his dog tags around his neck and under his shirt. Rikku kneeled down next to him.

"So...why did you freak out about those...uh, dog tags?"

"Well, other than the fact that, if I happen to die and get mutilated in the process, the person that finds me can identify my body with these dog tags, I have my good luck charm on the chain."

Sae held up the chain for her to see. Rikku handled the small silver star with care as she examined it.

"So...why's this so important to you?"

Sae frowned as he pondered the answer.

"My ex-girlfriend gave it to me when I left for Iraq."

" 'Ex'-girlfriend?" What happened?"

Without even thinking about it, he answered her.

"When I left for Iraq, she was still my girlfriend, you know, "I love you, I'll wait for you," all that bullshit. But a few months in Iraq and I called her and she told me that she had dumped me and moved on to some other guy she barely knew. It's a classic story, you leave a love behind for a few months and then you turn around and find out that she hooked up with another person just because she isn't mature enough to stay faithful. Well I say "Fuck that shit"."

"Oh..."

Sae turned to the sound of demure voice and saw she looked rather sad. He felt he had to make up for it.

"Hey, hey. Don't you go feeling sorry for me. Any of you, don't feel sorry for me. She's done and over with. The past is the past."

Behind Sae, Lulu silently nodded in consent, thinking of Chappu when he had died and left her.

"Alright!"

Sae looked around again and saw Rikku with her usual bright smile on her face again. He smiled a little at Rikku and stood up. Out of the corner of her eye, Rikku spotted the artifact that Sae had brought up.

"Hey! Can I see that thing that's in your hand?"

Without another word, she snatched it from him faster than the eye could follow. Sae looked at his now empty hand with surprise.

"Hey, you little thief! You can't just snatch things from other people like that!"

Yuna giggled and caught the attention of Sae. She had to stop giggling first though.

"You-you'll have to forgive Rikku. She actually is a thief you know."

She managed to say in between giggles.

"Oh, wow! Do you know what you've got here?! This is really really rare nowadays!"

Everyone crowded around Rikku to get a better look (except Kimahri, of course). They all watched as she swiftly slapped the artifact onto Sae's left forearm and made it stick.

"Hey! What'd you do that for? And get that thing off of me!"

"Oh you dummy! Do you know what you've got there and how much I want to have it?!"

"Of course I don't, you dolt! I'm not even from your world!"

Everyone but Rikku (and Kimahri) nodded in consent.

"Oooohh...what you've got there is a Dress Sphere Grid!"

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**Somewhere else in Besaid**

"Eeek!"

SPLASH

A girl about to turn eighteen years old fell into a pond and began to scrabble for shore. Once she had reached the shore she began to cough up some pond water and began to observe her surroundings warily. She didn't feel very secure in this place and began to panic a little.

She quickly got on her feet and ran for cover in the forest near the edge of the shore. There she began to run as fast as she could until she tripped over a partially buried object.

"Oww...That hurt..."

She got up slowly and turned to look at what she now recognized to be a treasure chest of sorts. She liked things like this. Things like this reminded her of the stories that she so loved and read of so much. So she eagerly opened the chest and found a beautiful staff that seemed to be carved of ivory with a gold spear point at the bottom end and a diamond shaped as, well, a diamond at the other with brass wings on either side of the diamond that seemed to be tinted with silver. She was in awe of the beautiful staff.

"Cool...I wonder who made this and why it was just left inside this chest. Huh..."

Unfortunately she had no more time to ponder this. An odd looking canine beast with a pointed snout and wicked looking claws jumped out of a dense clump of foliage and lunged at her, claws at the ready and mouth wide open and ready to tear her apart.

The girl screamed and fell back on her rear. She didn't even take time to think. All she did was cover her head with one arm while the other swung the staff wildly. When she realized that she had not been torn to shreds, she looked up and saw the beast caught in a myriad of what seemed to be slash marks and being tossed around as if some invisible force were playing with it. The beast erupted into a bunch of multicolored lights and disappeared.

Surprised, Angel stood up shakily and took another good look at the staff she held in her hand which was now glowing softly. She smiled and jumped up and down laughing.

"Hah! This is just like an RPG! This is so cool!"

Mind you, she was still very wary.

After all, it's not everyday that you somehow black out and find yourself in a world where your greatest fantasy would come true.

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**Author's Notes: **Well, there you have it, a little more insight to the horrors of Iraq, and the second chapter of my story. sorry it took so long but I had no internet at all until just a few days ago. So now I can actually enjoy my time on base.

If you actually do read this story...

review

and happy Super Bowl everyone (I CAN'T BELIEVE THE PATRIOTS AND THE SAINTS LOST!!!)


	3. Chapter 3

well, after getting a little bored of writing Naruto and Digimon fanfiction, i'll try my hand at this story again. it's been such a while since I've written anything for this so you'll likely see many things that dont make sense.

anyway, i'm no good at stuff like this, so on with it then

Disclaimer: Don't own Final Fantasy, but I do own several of the games now. Lovin' that Dirge of Cerberus.

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**Chapter 3**

Now Toby had seen some messed up shit. He'd been forced to sit down and watch the goriest, bloodiest, stupidest movies ever made in the short history of mankind. He'd seen people with deformed faces, amputated limbs, and birth defects. He felt safe to say "I've seen it all". How wrong he was...

"Aaaahh! My leg! My leg!"

LCpl Sae ducked down and turned to look at Cpl Miguel Lopez and saw a sight that pushed bile up into his mouth. There was a clean hole through his leg and it was quickly draining his life's blood. Sae jumped down on Lopez and forced him to look away from the critical wound and dragged him into a decimated building.

"Corpsman! Corpsman! We've got a man hit!"

Sae tried to calm Lopez down and at the same time tried to restrain him. The Navy Corpsman dived inside the building, barely missed the bullets that riddled the walls. He immediately got up and began to try to apply a tourniquet above the wounded leg.

"I need more guys in here! Go get someone!"

"Jeremiah! Jeremiah, get in here!"

PFC Jeremiah didn't answer but Machado came rushing in instead. The Corpsman directed him to keep pressure on top of Lopez's wound as he wrapped the top of the leg in a belt tightly so it would stop the bleeding.

"Sae, this guy's not looking good. He's gotta get out of here and fast if we want him to survive."

Sae nodded and briefly ran his hand over Lopez's head before going to look after the rest of his team. He tapped the shoulder of the radio-operator sharply and signaled to him to radio in for an evac. Not wanting to wait any longer, he jumped over a few decimated walls and reached the rest of his team. Machado jumped in next to him a second later, only to curse in futility. Sae now knew what had happened to Jeremiah. He was currently pinned down lying down flat behind a short wall. The wind was starting to pick up and a bunch of sand, dirt, and trash was flying around. Sae pulled his goggles onto his face and quickly signaled to his fire team telling them to listen in.

'Okay, _now_ I've seen it all.'

Again, wrong.

**Mushroom Rock Road**

Yuna and her party of guardians were currently walking along the High Road to meet with Maester Seymour. They killed time by defeating the fiends that never seemed to wait more than a few seconds after another fiend was killed to jump out and attempt to ambush them, and by questioning Toby and trying to understand him. What Toby learned from them was that they didn't know that his swear words such as "fuck" and "shit" and phrases such as "son of a bitch" were inappropriate language. That explained why he was not chastised when he spewed it out unreasonably in front of present company. He decided to cut low on the cussing. He didn't want to start a trend.

At first Wakka didn't seem to like him much. He kept calling Toby's weapon a "machina", whatever the hell that means. He also kept trying to look closely into Toby's eyes which was a disturbing action. Toby was able to stop his attempts by simply saying,

"Sorry, bud. I don't play for that team."

Apparently this phrase was not beyond the comprehension of the bulky Blitzball player. And speaking of Blitzball; Toby got excited when he heard the description of Blitzball and when he had gotten a live demonstration and a short clip from when the Besaid Aurochs completely thrashed the Luca Goers at the Blitzball Final. Toby played soccer and hockey and wasn't too shabby at swimming either. Toby's eyes had gone misty as he considered the possibilities of committing so many moves that would be deemed fouls in his world and move them over into Blitzball. Tidus began to edge away from him when his misty eyes had achieved a glint that Auron would be proud of and a dark chuckle that would keep fiends at bay easier than a spell or ability ever could.

Toby took his fair share of fiends down. He finished blasting the remains of what he called the 'Drake Reject' with an M240G Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Ever since Rikku had slapped that device on his arm, she had been teaching him how to use it.

**A Day Ago**

"A Dress Sphere Grid, you say?"

"Yeah! Isn't it cool?!"

"I'm not wearing no fucking dress. No way in the seven levels of hell."

"But-"

"NO."

"B-"

"NO means NO damnit."

"It doesn't have to be a dress! It probably works differently for guys than it does for us girls!"

"N-Wha?"

"Daddy's working on a new kind of Dress Sphere Grid based on the making of that age-old one you've got there, except he said he's making it "for my sweet little girl"."

"...So...you're saying I won't be in a dress?"

"Ugh, no, you won't be in a dress."

Yuna was currently beside herself in giggles and Tidus had to bury his face in the dirt to muffle his laughter. Lulu was shaking her head, Wakka was coughing up a storm, Auron smiled just a little at the duo's antics, and Kimahri was, well, Kimahri.

"Now, let's see what the Sphere Grid made of you."

"How's that?"

"This thing generates a few dress spheres based on data it reads about you."

"How does this thing read my data?"

"I don't know, I just know it works. I don't like to question it. Dad's inventions always seem to go haywire and blow up in his face whenever I question how they work. It's like it's some kind of conspiracy."

"Riiiight..."

"Hmm...this is really weird. I've never seen spheres with this kind of make-up before."

"I'm not wearing no fucking make-up either!"

"Oooh, you dummy! I meant how it's structured."

"Oh..."

"I really don't get it, why don't you try them on, just to see what they do?"

"Eh, sure. I just tap the sphere, then?"

Rikku nodded the affirmative so Toby hesitantly tapped the first glowing sphere smartly. Nothing happened for a few seconds and Toby opened his mouth to complain when he was suddenly enveloped in light. Rikku jumped back in surprise and everyone stopped laughing, sans Kimahri, to look at what became of Toby. When the light died down, there didn't seem to be much different about him. He was still in the sand colored camouflage uniform and carrying a bulky pack that rattled whenever he moved. What they did notice immediately was the large and menacing looking weapon hanging off his shoulders. Toby looked down and gave a whoop of joy.

"Oh sweet! It's an M240 Gulf! I love these things!"

Everyone couldn't understand, even Rikku, Tidus, and Auron, why he made such a big deal out of that supposed weapon. They were also a little creeped out when Toby sat down and began crooning and softly stroking the weapon and odd, thin, pointed cylinders the color of brass that were linked together. They guessed it was a "Maw-reene" thing.

**Present**

"See, Toby! I told you that the Dress Sphere Grid is awesome!"

Toby finished revering the heavy machine gun long enough to give Rikku something between grimace and a smile. He took off his helmet and replied,

"Yeah. You were right. I've gotta admit, I'm really loving this Dress Sphere Grid. I got to be a SAW gunner, a Sniper, and Recon! Wonder what else I can get out of this baby."

Yuna pulled Tidus over to her and began to whisper to him,

"Don't you think that Toby and Rikku make such a cute couple? I've never seen Rikku so excited...and, well, angry, like this before! And it looks like she got Toby to open up a bit more, don't you think?"

Tidus flushed a little under his tanned skin when she mentioned the word couple but it thankfully went unnoticed due to his darkened skin. He looked back at Toby and Rikku opening up another fight as they walked towards the magical pillar that led to the encampment. He couldn't help but smile and he noticed that both Rikku and Toby were smiling underneathe their shouts and gestures.

"Yeah, I think they would. But I'd really hate to see their kids, haha. From what we've seen here, I'll bet they'll fight even through the wedding ceremony."

Tidus didn't miss the odd flash that shone through Yuna's eyes quickly. He quickly feared he had done something wrong and tried to correct it.

"Yuna-?

Well, he tried. They had reached the magical pillar and it began to rise quickly. When they reached the top, they saw an enraged Crusader rush into the camp.

"Hey! Wasn't that-"

"Yes, but we should be moving. It is not prudent to leave Maester Seymour waiting for us any longer than necessary."

Wakka grew a little subdued as the Maester's name was mentioned. Everyone had noticed that he grew steadily grumpier when he met Maester Seymour and saw him allowing the use of Al Bhed machina and blessing the Al Bhed in the name of Yevon.

"I still say that the Maester's lost his marbles. Too many bad chocobo eggs if you ask me. To even think to use Al Bhed machina, when that's the reason that Sin's here in the first place, yah?"

Everyone looked a little shocked. Wakka, the ardent follower of Yevon, cursing a Maester of Yevon. Toby stayed blissfully ignorant. They soon reached a tent and Maester Seymour came out to greet them. Toby and Wakka grew rigid with more than a little distrust in their eyes. Toby didn't like this "Maester Seymour". He was too smooth of a talker and seemed a bit too powerful and too good to be true. Not mentioning the fact that the odd veins that converged on his forehead to between his eyes. Toby's "Jody" senses were tingling. That was never a good sign. Seymour turned his eyes upon Yuna and then on Tidus and then on Toby. Toby saw a little curiosity and what might pass for triumph pass his eyes for a moment. Seymour soon left and said that "Operation Mi'ihen" would begin in about a half hour. Everyone notably grew more subdued and a little distracted.

Toby was confused when everyone had first told him about Sin. At first he thought it meant like the sins in the Bible. But he was told that it was actually a creature, a manifestation of the sins of Spira. He was told of all the destruction and sadness that Sin had wrought and how Sin could only be defeated by a summoner only to return once the Calm was over. He couldn't grasp it completely but he supposed that he would now find out just what Sin is. Toby went for a little walk and saw how everyone seemed to be so focused on defeating this "Sin". They were checking all the weapons, their gear, and the chocobos (the first words out of Toby's mouth when he first saw chocobos were, "I bet KFC, Popeye's, and Church's Chicken would love to farm these things.").

Everyone sported a grim look as they worked hard. Toby heard several motivational speeches going on and loud cheering and odd bits of a language that he couldn't understand a word of. Toby wondered if this "Sin" really was such a big deal as everyone was making it. He never mentioned it to the party because every time the subject of Sin came up, everyone darkened considerably. Even Tidus seemed a bit down, though not as much as the others.

Unable to handle the tension anymore, Toby returned to the tent and prepared himself. Seymour had left with a not so subtle hint that battles might break out, even up on this cliff, and Toby wanted to be ready. He pulled out a camelback and filled it up to the brim and put it on over his flak jacket. He was glad that the Dress Sphere Grid seemed to generate ammunition whenever he needed it. He slowly began to load rounds into his magazines and cleaning his weapon to pass the time. He felt his good luck charm move against his chest and couldn't help but wonder what Angel was doing.

**The Other Side of Mushroom Rock Road**

Angel had to admit it to herself. She couldn't coast through life on good looks and popularity. Well, not anymore anyways. Ever since she dropped into this weird place, she'd been attacked by monsters left and right and people had been looking at her funny whenever she asked them a question. Even worse, her cell phone was gone and these people didn't seem to know what a "phone" was. So when she was confronted by two guards she was beside herself in anger. She had to be led away, they said something about "Sin" and an operation going on beyond there and that it wasn't safe.

But common sense be damned, she was mad and she wanted to keep walking until she found something that made sense. So when the guards went to check something, she quickly dashed past them and arrived at the top a cliff overlooking a beach. There seemed to be a lot of people shouting and moving about, spewing more nonsense about that "Sin", while fixing what looked like cannons.

"Oh, good. Cannons, this must mean that there are some people around here that make sense."

She spotted a man walking towards an important looking tent and quickly ran to catch up with him. She lightly tapped him on his shoulders to get his attention.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you tell me where I am?"

The Crusader looked at the girl as if she were the stupidest person in the world.

"What do you mean "where are you?". How did you get in here? You have to get out of here, now! It isn't safe!"

By now, Angel was tired, sad, angry, hungry, tired, hungry, tired, angry, hungry, tired, angry, and angry. And she was frustrated. Out of a fit of rage she began screaming at the Crusader in a fit of rampage.

Beyond the wall of the tent, Toby shuddered for no reason at all. He passed it off as nerves and continued maintaining his weapon while making small talk with everyone.

"Shut up! You despicable, spoiled little child! Don't you understand I'm just trying to make sure you don't get hurt! Fine! You want it your way?! GRIFF! Take this girl into the tent and make sure she SHUTS UP!"

Griff came and calmly led Angel into the large tent. Angel was currently in shock. She was used to being called a spoiled little child, but not in the way that guard had been doing it. While she merely brushed off comments like this back home, she, for some reason, couldn't bring herself to do the same here. She didn't hear Griff telling her to calm down and stay quiet and that if a fight should break out, that she should quickly run to the reinforced dugouts they had made at the back of the tent. She continued to stare at the wall of canvas in front of her, her mind wading in thoughts. She vaguely heard voices beyond the wall of canvas running up and down the center of the tent.

"Hey, Toby, whatcha doin'?"

"Cleaning my rifle."

"You know, I'm all for good looking weapons, but are good looks really important if you're gonna fight?"

"Of course not. I'm cleaning the inside of my rifle so it doesn't jam or have anything interfere with it. The cleaner a rifle, the better it fires."

"Well if you say so, Mr. Lance Corporal Toby Sae."

"Rikku."

"Yes?"

"Shut up, will you?"

"Aww...you big meanie!"

"Hey, you little theif! Give me back my helmet! Don't make me have to chase you down..."

"Nneeeeeee!"

"You little-!"

Angel absentmindedly listened to the various crashes and slightly forced laughter until the proverbial light bulb lit up.

"Toby?"

"Huh?"

Toby looked over to the wall that said his name and noticed a shadow crossing towards the opening to his right. Toby trailed off to the side so he could see better and couldn't believe his eyes. Standing in the opening, looking just as surprised as he was, was a girl with long brown hair in a low-set ponytail, heart-shaped face, and brown eyes. A girl Toby knew well, and often saw much cleaner than she looked now,

"Angel?"

"Toby? Is that really you? Finally, a person that can understand me!"

Angel dashed over to Toby, fully ready to envelope her ex-boyfriend in a big hug when she unexpectedly hit what felt like the fist of God and hit the dirt.

"Whoopsie!"

Angel groaned but relaxed when a pair of surprisingly gentle hands helped her up. She opened her eyes and looked at Toby who was avoiding her gaze. Suddenly she remembered their situation and felt awkward.

"Umm...It's good to see you again Toby. But I thought you were still in Iraq?"

Toby turned around and sat down at his bench and resumed his weapons maintenance. The entire tent was silent. Everyone could feel the tension between the two foreigners. Toby took his time with his answer,

"I was, but my team and I were pinned down by insurgents and I fell out of a helicopter. Then I ended up here somehow and joined Yuna and her friends and now I'm here."

The silence fell again and everyone felt uncomfortable, even Auron, just a little. Unable to take it anymore, Yuna spoke up,

"So, um, Angel, was it? How do you know Toby? Are you two friends from where you come from."

"Yes, I guess you could say that. Toby and I used to date a little while back."

Toby kept feigning muteness. Anyone near him felt the tug of a blackhole as he kept oiling and scrubbing the same spot on his rifle.

"Used to? What do you mean used to?"

"Uh...well, we broke up a month ago..."

"So you're the one that made him so miserable!"

Everyone turned to look at Rikku who was pointing her finger at Angel. Rikku was glaring like nobody had ever seen her glare before. Everyone could see she was insanely angry and every female (sans Angel) could see righteous, feminine fury burning in her eyes. Angel wondered what the little girl was talking about.

"What do you mean, "made him miserable"?"

"What do I mean?! How could you break up with a guy like Toby? He's so nice, how could you just go behind his back and date another guy?!"

"Enough."

Everyone stopped and looked at Toby as he slowly stood up. Toby slung his M4 rifle across his body and walked to the center of the group.

"Enough. No more of this. Nobody needs to hear this. It's personal, just leave it alone."

"But-"

"I said leave it alone, Rikku. Don't worry yourself about it."

"But-!"

Rikku was cut off when Toby grabbed her shoulders and planted a chaste kiss on Rikku's forehead. Everyone stared dumbfounded that he had found such a simple method of calming everyone down. Toby let go and walked to the exit. He turned around just before he exited,

"Rikku, thanks for caring."

Everyone was silent. Rikku was blushing. Yuna and Tidus's mouths were hanging open. Lulu's eyes were slightly widened. Wakka was scratching his head. Auron took a swig from his sake jug. Kimahri adjusted his arms so they wouldn't go numb. Angel was confused and felt a little hurt at the display of affection Toby had demonstrated on Rikku. When a Crusader walked in a few minutes later, nothing had changed. He felt a little awkward and cursed being the new guy. He cleared his throat,

"E-Excuse me, Lady Yuna. Operation Mi'ihen is about to begin and Maester Seymour would like you and your party to meet him at the control center."

Yuna nodded, bringing herself out of her funk and collected everybody and left the tent. Several seconds later she returned to snap Angel back to reality.

"Would you care to join us? I'm sure there are many things to discuss."

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**AN:** Well, there it is. I'm hoping the story is starting to get a little more interesting and make some sort of sense. Writing Final Fantasy is HARD. It's something I have next to no experience with, seeing I don't read many Final Fantasy fics in the first place. I can only hope for the best.

go on, toss me a cookie...please?


	4. Chapter 4

sorry for the long long period of inactivity. i've been working hard for a couple of months, almost literally 24/7. being an aircraft mechanic is not an easy job and it is very demanding.

but enough with the excuses, on with it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Final Fantasy series, Square Enix has the rights to them. Tetsuya Nomura has the creative genius to direct and make all this. I have nothing to do with it.

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**Chapter 4**

It seemed as if it were fate. Toby and Angel met accidentally and something just seemed to click. It was the tenth grade.

"Crap! I'm late! Get out of my way, get out of my way!!"

Toby frantically ran through the hallways littered, every so often, with students who either had a free period or were simply not concerned with keeping a good attendance record. It was just like any other day. He couldn't have known that there was someone as frantic as he was, desperately sprinting towards a class she had just picked up.

Angel had been comparing notes with her friend Deidre and had gotten a little too into absorbed in it. Before she realized it, the five minute grace period to get to class had dwindled down to the last two minutes. Hurriedly, she threw her folders and pens haphazardly into her messenger bag, adjusted her glasses and sprinted away throwing a hurried, "I'll see you later!" over her shoulder to her friend.

Just as Toby turned the last corner on the way to his class Angel was running straight towards the same door. Toby and Angel saw each other at the same time but knew there was nothing left to do but brace themselves. With an almighty SMACK Toby and Angel ran headfirst into each other.

Moaning and groaning, Toby and Angel rubbed their respective heads and looked up at each other. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Toby gave a stifled snicker. Angel stared at him in disbelief but couldn't help a stifled chuckle of her own. Toby stood up and offered a hand to the girl before him. Angel smiled and took the offered hand.

"Hi, my name's Toby. It's nice to, uh...meet you, yeah."

"And I'm Angel. It's a pleasure to meet you too."

Over the next six months Toby and Angel were rarely found without the other in their company. They studied together, ate together and were generally to be found together in a corner of a bookstore talking about a good book they just managed to scrounge up.

The six months after saw the beginnings of a happy new couple. They went on dates and did the typical couple thing. Occasionally, one would go a little further and do something completely unexpected. On their one year anniversary, Toby had bought her a small gift bag. Angel had a small look of dismay on her face until she opened up the bag and saw what lay in it. It was a beautiful black, full-length, strapless dress that glittered as it moved in the light. As she moved it about, admiring it, a card fell out. When she read what it said, she couldn't help but gape. A lot. It showed that Toby had made a reservation at the town's fanciest restaurant for the two of them. After that amazing and fancy (and savings emptying) dinner Toby had further surprised her by taking her to the small hill that they so often frequented on weekends. He fished out a guitar from the back of his parents' car that he had borrowed and began to softly serenade her. If she were honest with herself she would have said that Toby's voice stunk, but on that night, combined with the light of a full moon and a gentle breeze and the soft, melodic whispering of his guitar playing, it was perfect. She was swooning and, once Toby had finished playing, she jumped him and kissed him as she had never kissed him before. A few minutes later, the couple left their spot on Cloud Nine and held each other, just enjoying the company of the one they loved (their expensive clothes ruined for the night, not that either of them cared).

Moments like that, Toby held near and dear to him. Because the year after that, Angel changed. She began to hang out with the more 'popular' cliques and her personality began a slow but total overhaul, but not for the better. Only occasionally she hung out with Toby and began to turn down dates. She stopped coming to his Track and Field competitions and she wasn't there when he received an award for coming in second place in his first CIF Championship competition. She still went to his small birthday party, though. For the final ten minutes that is. Toby was becoming just a little worried, but he was willing to forgive and forget, naiively believing that Angel was just really really busy now that she had to really worry about getting into colleges.

Toby ignored the warnings from his friends that his girlfriend was seen hanging out with the higher risk students. If he didn't believe in his girlfriend, who would? Still, he decided to investigate this and confronted Angel about this. After a little bit of a talk, Angel agreed to go easy and things ran a little more like their first year. They renewed their dating with fervor and generally had fun with each other again. They became the most talked about couple in their school.

Toby became comfortable in his naiivete and failed to see the warning signs again. In their final year together in school, Toby had signed up to join the United States Marine Corps and was set to go to basic training four days after he graduated school. He finally received first place in the one mile run during the CIF Finals. Angel was there to see him in his final moment of glory, along with her old friend Deidre. Graduation was a busy event. Angel and Toby spent that night together after a nice dinner with both of their families. The day later would be the day that Angel went to visit her cousins in Arizona with her family.

Toby went to basic training three days later. From that point on, everything changed.

If he were honest with himself, he knew that he was to blame for what happened later.

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Toby walked around the edge of the massive cliffs watching all the warrior monks of Yevon and the Al Bhed making their final preparations. There was a grim atmosphere that Toby had experienced briefly before. It was anticipation and the inexplicable knowledge of what would happen in the near future. He stood on the edge of the cliff just below the massive control tower with the weapon that the Al Bhed and Maesters were putting so much hope on. Toby let out a breath he hadn't known that he had been holding.

"Your name was Toby, was it?"

Toby turned around and suppressed a shiver that traveled up his spine. Seymour was walking towards him in a sedate pace, that irksome smile still on his face. He stopped next to Toby and looked out at the beach and observed the Chocobo Knights and warrior monks preparing their weapons and tending to the anxious chocobo squawking about.

"Lady Yuna tells me that you are not from this side of Spira. Is this true?"

"Yeah, I guess that's right. I'm not from around these parts."

"Yes, I thought so. You're clothes, your demeanor, your odd weapon and sayings. They clearly tell me that you are not a native to these parts. Where are you from, exactly?"

Toby studied Seymour carefully. He could tell that there was some underlying plot but could not sense any open hostilities within Seymour. Besides, how could he know where the United States of America was located anyway?

"I'm from the United States of America. It's a far-off country, rather hard to reach from here."

"Hmm. So I see. Your clothes seem to be a uniform of sorts, who do you belong to?"

"I am a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps infantry."

"I see...What is this "Core of Marines" you speak of? Has the message of Yevon reached your "America"?"

"Uh...sure. We even have the, uh...Book of Yevon."

Of course, here Toby was bullshitting. He didn't want this creep to have anything to do with his country. He didn't even know if there really was a "Book of Yevon". Seymour didn't seem to mind.

"I am glad. Yevon be praised that the message reaches even so far as the other side of Spira, the world of Sorrow."

Seymour performed the Yevon prayer that Toby had seen Yuna do so often and walked away leaving Toby feeling a little uncomfortable.

'What does he mean, the "World of Sorrow"?'

"Toby! The warrior monks are telling us that they're about to begin! We should be getting to the tower!"

Toby turned to Yuna who was halfway up the ramp leading to the tower and nodded the affirmative. He looked up to the tower and saw a lot of Sinspawn being herded into a cage that had wiring running through the frame. Toby had a bad feeling run through him and suddenly was engulfed in darkness.

"Huh, what the-?!"

Toby felt as if he were being watched and swung his rifle up to the ready position and looked around frantically. He felt a presence, not near him, but around him, as if it were everywhere.

"Your darkness."

Toby lowered his rifle, just a little.

"Your pain."

Toby straightened his back.

"Your song."

Toby fully relaxed and looked around for the source of the voice.

"They keep drawing me nearer and nearer."

"Wh-What do you mean?"

Toby spotted a figure far away from him wearing what looked like an orange sash and something oval and white circling around it slowly.

The figure slowly turned around and faced him. It was a man, scruffy with stubble and long, wild hair.

"You kinda remind me of me. Drawn into a world you have no idea about without your consent. Having to hide things from the people around you. Having failures in your life that hold you back from truly being you. Having failed the ones you love. Losing the one thing in your life that is most important to you."

"How-"

"Don't ask, kid. You don't wanna know. You'll find out, anyway. One way, or another."

The figure turned around and began to fade slowly. He spoke softly,

"Can you sing the hymn?"

"What?"

"Hmph. Tell my son...tell my son to sing the hymn, every once in a while. The hymn calms It down."

"What are you talking about, old man? What hymn? I don't even know who you are? How am I supposed to find your son?!"

"Quit yer dawdling and get lost. And you'd best prepare yourself."

At this, the man looked at Toby over his shoulder,

"When I come at you, I'll come with everything I've got. Not like I've got a choice in the matter, anyway."

When Toby came to, he found a worried looking Yuna looking down at him. Toby vaguely wondered when he had fallen to the ground.

"Toby, are you alright? You just fell for no reason a minute ago."

"I...wait, you mean you didn't see him? You didn't hear him?"

"I didn't...hear who?"

"That-that guy, with the orange sash around his waist...you really didn't see him?"

"No, I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

Toby let out a sigh and stood up. The bad feeling from before followed him up all the way to the tower. He saw everyone there looking grim. Even Angel seemed a little distraught and distant. Rikku still looked a little dazed but blushed when she caught his eye.

'Maybe kissing her on the forehead was a bit too drastic.'

Toby grimaced and took his place next to Tidus observing the cage full of Sinspawn. Seymour walked out of the tower and addressed the gathered warriors,

"My friends, brave Spirans, all. We are about to begin Operation Mi'ihen. Prepare, we are about to make history with the final defeat of Sin!"

A collective roar shook the sky as Seymour gave the signal to start. The operator nodded and started the electric cage. Screeches rang from the various Sinspawn herded into the cage. Toby couldn't help but give a jerk when he heard the unearthly sounds that rang in the air. He felt something that could only be described as trouble. He looked around and caught a triumphant smirk grace Seymour's face for only a second.

Then...it happened.

A horrendous roar shook the cage and something crashed through the walls of the cage and landed with an earth-shattering crash. The huge creature lunged at the various guards surrounding the cage and methodically tore them apart with it's huge claws and impaled several of them with it's legs. As it tore apart a man's torso with it's needle-sharp teeth, it raised it's head and gave an ear-piercing screech, it's gaping maw dripping with blood. Bones and severed intestines fell with sickening splurches.

Even Toby, with his quick and dirty battle-hardening found the scene to be horrifically surreal. Poor Angel, she was merely a young girl who had no idea of the sickening realities of the world. She could no longer hold the bile being held back and relieved the growing pressure in her stomach and puked her guts out. Everyone was gaping, showing different levels of discomfort.

Luckily, there were people there that were able to keep a sense of reality and were able to shake off the bloody haze. Auron and Toby rushed forward and tackled the others out of the way. Kimahri grabbed Yuna and jumped out of harm's way.

"It comes!"

At that Auron rushed forward, his massive sword resting on his shoulder, ready to be swung at a moment's notice. Not missing a beat Toby ran forward with the M240G in his solid grip, ready, eager, and willing to fire. Auron nodded at him and rushed towards the gigantic Sinspawn's body.

"Hey! Wait for us!"

Tidus and Wakka rushed forward as well, sword and blitzball at the ready.

"Don't forget about us. We will fight as well!"

Yuna and Lulu rushed forward with looks of fear and powerful determination etched onto their faces.

"Kimahri fight too!"

The powerful Ronso rushed forward with his spear swinging menacingly. Toby looked back and saw Rikku and Angel, frozen with fear glazing their eyes. He ran to them and kneeled in front of them.

"I don't want you guys to fight if you don't want to. Just know, either way I will protect you. Both of you. Just stay safe, alright?"

Toby briefly grasped both of their shoulders and ran back towards the Sinspawn.

"Toby, wait! I'm gonna fight too! What are you gonna do without me, anyways?"

Rikku caught up with him and smiled as she put on her gauntlet. Toby grinned back at her and looked towards where the rest of their party was fighting desperately. Their attacks were rendered useless whenever they tried to attack due to the monster's protective pincers.

"Stand aside! I'm coming through!"

Obediently the party jumped aside as Toby and Rikku ran through, both giving war cries as they did so. Toby fired of an innumerable amount of bullets that tore through the Sinspawn's soft, unprotective flesh beneath it's chest, blood leaving as the metal slugs tore through. Rikku threw various objects at it from far away such as knives as her grenades would injure Toby as well. Through staggered breaths as he sprinted from side to side, occasionally firing off rounds now, he shouted at the rest,

"The arms! Take out the arms!"

Understanding immediately, Auron, Tidus and Kimahri made short work of the arms while Lulu and Wakka deterred the Sinspawn's head from lunging at the fighters and Yuna casting supportive and protective spells here and there. A few gruesome minutes later the Sinspawn finally collapsed, breathing heavily, blood spurting out every few breaths. Not wanting to give it any time to recover, Toby quickly ran up and swung the stock of his machine gun up and slung it down with all his might. The butt stock landed inside of the Sinspawn's head with a hearty crunch and it finally stopped moving, slowly dissolving into the pyreflies that inhabited Spira.

Toby panted hard as he picked up the machine gun. He heard various cries of,

"SIN!"

and collective war cries of the Chocobo Knights and Al Bhed and warrior monks disposing of the various Sinspawn landing on the beach. Toby looked farther towards the horizon and saw a monumental figure rise from the ocean. He couldn't help but gape at it. It was so...disgusting. It looked so powerful...and disgusting, like a deformed spider/whale/turtle/walrus. He saw an incredible amount of projectiles being fired off from Sin that turned out to be various Sinspawn. He heard the deafening roar of the many cannons being fired at the, now, closer figure of Sin. Some of the cannons missed. Many of them hit their mark, leaving deep scars into the massive body of Sin, still without any effect.

None of that compared with what happened next. To Toby anyway.

Toby's heart seemed to stop when he heard a familiar scream reach his ears. He quickly turned around and all the blood drained from his face. He saw Angel running as fast as she could away from a large, airborne Sinspawn. Without thinking at all, he ran towards her. Without really seeing them, he dodged past several Sinspawn in his way. He ran his hand over the Dress Sphere Grid Rikku had given him. In mid-run, his heavy gear disappeared in favor of a sniper rifle, ranger vest, a small pack and a 9mm pistol. Without knowing how he knew where to go, he ran towards the edge of the cliff shooting every so often when he had a sure shot.

The beast was getting closer and closer to Angel with every passing second. He knew what he had to do. He couldn't explain it, even later on, when he had time to reflect on this moment.

He reached the edge of the cliff but didn't stop. He sprinted as though his life depended on it, just like they taught him in boot camp. What he did wasn't exactly taught at boot camp. Generally, when he ran off the edge of anything, there was a platform or a rope for him to land on or grab on to. This time, he jumped with the blind hope of getting that Sinspawn after the life of his ex-girlfriend.

Even before his jump he knew that he wouldn't be able to make it. But in his desperation he struggled with all his might to make his body somehow just fly over to where the Sinspawn was. He knew he was dead.

Except...his mind connected with someone else's.

'You not know how to jump well, Toby.'

'Kimahri? How did you get into my head?'

'Kimahri not know, but connection exists. Don't question it.'

'Well that's great and all but in case you haven't noticed, I'm about to plummet to my death because I was too much in a hurry to save Angel.'

'Kimahri not blind. Kimahri see you falling.'

'Gee, thanks...So now what am I gonna do?'

'You not know how to jump. Kimahri will teach you.'

'How? I'm in the middle of this spectacular fall, you know.'

'With connection, Kimahri teach you. Now, Learn!'

Without being able to explain why, exactly, Toby screamed out,

"Learn!"

Toby suddenly had incredible knowledge flow into his mind from the connection he had just made with Kimahri. He suddenly 'knew' how to Jump and he instinctively acted. Inexplicably, he bent his legs mid-air and pushed off of nothing and damn near flew into the air and that much closer to his target.

'Thanks, Kimahri. I don't what this connection is, but it rocks!'

'What does rocks have to do with connection?'

'Nevermind. Thanks.'

With a strangled cry he pulled out his K-bar in his ranger vest and held it above his head and aimed for the Sinspawn that somehow appeared beneathe him. With an even more strangled cry, he dug the deadly weapon as deep as it could go into the Sinspawn's back. An ear-piercing screech rang in his ears as he, without hesitation, drew out his 9mm pistol and aimed at the back of it's head. He methodically emptied the entire magazine into the back of the accursed beast's head. Luckily, when the beast fell, it fell on to the ridge where Angel had tripped and lay still, eyes full of fear and wonder.

Picking himself up, Toby struggled to make the world stop spinning and tried to keep his head from floating away from his body. He tripped on his way to Angel as she stooped to help him up. Toby shook his head slowly and looked at her,

"I thought...I told you to stay safe..."

Angel was at a loss for words, she couldn't seem to think of anything to say. The fact that Toby had risked his life to save her's seemed to render her temporarily dumb. The fact that Toby grabbed her and fiercely hugged her didn't seem to help her situation at all.

"Don't ever do that to me again...please?"

"O-Okay."

A loud humming snapped the two out of it, making them stare up to the control tower. The two points on top were now crackling with energy, all just waiting to be fired at Sin. Toby looked around him and below the cliff. He saw, with great dismay, the overwhelming expanse of dead bodies spread across the land, like some sick, twisted version of the Cystine Chapel. He looked at the tower with fierce determination. His hatred of Seymour didn't matter to him anymore, he hoped, with all of his heart, that this weapon would stop the destructive rampage, the senseless loss of life.

The towers seemed to finish charging and released all of the pent up energy and fired a stream of energy at Sin. At once, it collided with the sinister aura surrounding Sin. At first, it seemed as if the energy would be unable to pierce through the barrier. Then, unexpectedly, the barrier began to warp around the beam, wavering and flickering. Toby fiercely gripped Angel's shoulder and she did likewise. The barrier looked as if it were about to simply pop and disappear. Sin was backing down.

Then suddenly, everyone's hopes crashed. Using the pressure pushing against his own energy, Sin rolled the energies together and unleashed it all in a catastrophic wave of dark energy that simply vaporized everything in it's path. Toby and Angel could only watch as the brave warriors, Sinspawn, and dead bodies were simply no longer there. The wave stopped just short of them and unleashed a powerful shockwave that sent the both of them flying.

Toby fought fiercely to stay in the realm of the conscious. He saw Yuna struggling to stand up to face a Sinspawn just like the one they had defeated just minutes before. Toby shook his head roughly to clear it of the cobwebs and stood up quickly, staggering a little. He saw Angel stirring, trying to stand as well. She finally seemed ready to fight. The edges of Toby's vision were still blurry and he could only vaguely make out shapes and people. Groggily, he stumbled to Yuna's side, ready to protect her, if need be.

"Thank you."

Yuna whispered softly. She steadied herself and raised her staff. A magic circle surrounded her, filled with arcane symbols. Orbs of light were raised into the sky. Not a second later, the sky seemed to come apart and a beautiful, elegant figure shot down from the sky. It was an avian that came down. Toby had seen nothing like it. Just being in it's presence seemed to make him feel better. It's soothing aura washed over him as it landed in front of him and Yuna. Yuna stepped forward to greet it as if to an old friend. The powerful looking creature became very docile and seemed to coo and purr as Yuna gently stroked it's face. Toby couldn't think of anything to say but,

"Cool..."

Yuna gave a mischievous and grateful smile and stepped forward to do battle alongside her powerful friend. Toby shook his head to clear it and stepped beside Yuna, Angel running in next to him, also gazing in awe at the beautiful creature that came to aid their desperate battle. The gears and cogs in Toby's brain were whirring, full speed calculating how to best fight this seriously mismatched battle. Noticing the cliff behind the Sinspawn, he quickly acted.

"Yuna, Angel! I need the both of you to drive that Sinspawn back, towards the cliff! Do whatever you can to distract it! I'm going to go around and plant some charges around the cliff!"

His only answers were two furious yells and a screech. Without stopping, he ran around the Sinspawn and reached for his pack only to grab at empty air. He had lost his pack when he was flung away by Sin's counterattack. Cursing the heavens, he whipped out his sniper rifle and took aim.

"Hey! Don't forget about me! I can help you!"

Toby looked around and saw Rikku dodge a pincer to land neatly in front of him. As soon as she landed Toby grabbed her around the waist and tossed her over to his right as a pincer swung down. Just as soon as that happened, Rikku swept his legs from under him and used the momentum he had built up to throw his body over to her left. Swiftly, she let go and threw a grenade at the Sinspawn's head. Rikku grabbed his hand and quickly dragged him to the cliff where Yuna and Angel were currently attempting to herd the Sinspawn. Seymour had appeared at one point and was aiding them as well.

"What are we gonna do? I don't have anymore explosives besides grenades!"

"Well then, it's a good thing you've got me, huh? I can help you create explosives powerful enough to blow this Sinspawn to kingdom come!"

Toby was about to ask how but decided against it as they dodged another pincer. Something seemed to keep him from finding out exactly how this world worked.

"Alright, help me make something strong enough to blow this section of cliff off along with the Sinspawn!"

"You've got it!"

With that Rikku swiped several of his grenades and a magazine from him and pulled out some materials from the pouch sitting on her hip. She quickly took apart the grenades with frightening expertise and began to mix the items together. Not thirty seconds later she rose with a coy smile and tossed several items at Toby. They looked pretty rickshaw but Toby felt that these things were very very VERY dangerous and, without hesitation, ran around the Sinspawn that was now cornered, laying charges every now and then until he ran out.

Signaling to Rikku, he quickly ran back to Yuna's and Angel's side. Seymour, it seemed, was an extremely powerful mage as he seemed to hold the Sinspawn at bay with relative ease.

"Alright! We're good to go! Stand back!"

Toby fired a shot at one of the charges. After that heart-stopping moment everything seemed to spontaneously combust. Due to the individual bullets that Rikku had integrated into the explosives, they seemed to set off a chain reaction of explosives, one going off right after the other, effectively breaking apart that section of cliff and taking the Sinspawn with it. With one last roar of desperation, the Sinspawn disappeared over the cliff never to be seen again. With a sigh of relief Toby sat down on the dirt with a satisfied smile on his face. He closed his eyes and finally fell into the world of the unconscious.

"What the-I'm here again?"

"That's right, kid. Back here with li'l ol' me again."

Toby turned around and saw the man with the orange sash standing behind him, arms crossed, looking smug.

"What's with that smile on your ugly mug, old man?"

"Nothin', like I said, don't worry about it. So you talk to my fool of a son, yet?"

"Like I said, I don't know who your son is. And why am I here again?"

The man shrugged disconcertedly.

"Beats the heck outta me, kid. Not that I mind. Hanging out with old Yu Yevon isn't as fun as it may sound, you know. So I'll enjoy your company while it lasts."

"Yu...Yevon? Isn't that who these people pray to or something?"

"Sort of, but not really. Anyway, I shouldn't really be telling you all this stuff. It's better for you to find out on your own."

There was an awkward silence between the two after that. What were they supposed to say after that?

"You put up quite a helluva' fight, kid. I was watching you. You're really quite something you know. Quite some interesting skills you got, there."

"Gee...uh, thanks. I guess."

"It looks like our time's up again, kid."

It was true, it was getting harder and harder to see the old man and even harder trying to hear him. Toby gave in blissfully and left the realm of the unconscious. He woke up and saw Yuna's face hanging above his, smiling, her face full of relief. Toby blushed as he realized his head was lying on Yuna's lap (Yuna was very very pretty now that he looked at her closely). He quickly stood up profusely apologizing for what he didn't know but the sudden movement took much out of him and he fell down again.

This time Rikku caught him and gently laid him down with a few good reprimands, shaking her head but smiling a little all the while. Toby couldn't help but smile a little too. He couldn't explain why, though.

"Silly, you can't strain yourself like that. Not yet, anyway."

Rikku bent over and gave him a kiss on the forehead, just as he had to her. This time it was Toby that was blushing madly. Rikku just smiled down at him.

"Feeling better?"

Toby just made a strangled noise of assent and absently nodded his head. Rikku looked pleased with herself and nodded happily. She quickly stood up and ran into the next room. Yuna walked back over to the cot where Toby had been relocated and chanted a few words casting a light around Toby's body, slowly healing his wounds and getting rid of the pounding headache assaulting his mind. Toby sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Yuna. That feels much better."

"You're very welcome, Toby. I'm just glad you're alright. You were very injured and you pushed yourself too hard during the operation."

Lulu walked up at this point, a hand against her head, eyes closed.

"You jumped off of a cliff, Toby. Exactly what were you thinking, young man?"

"Well, gee, _mom_, I was thinking I was gonna do everything I could to save Angel's life. It's what anyone would have done."

Lulu looked affronted at his comment and huffed haughtily. She stuck her nose in the air and crossed her arms looking very menacing. Wakka inconspicuously walked out of the tent.

"You are, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most irritating people I have ever met in my life. You're childish, rude, crude, and too hasty.

"But...I suppose you are a person that we can rely on. You care for everyone, even if you are a bit...extreme. There is no doubt, you would do anything for the ones you care about. You are a fool, but you are a dependable fool."

Lulu turned around and made for the exit. She stopped just before the opening and turned to look at Toby again. She let out a deep breath and bowed to Toby, shocking him deeply.

"Thank you very much. You took care of Yuna when I couldn't. You made sure she was safe. For that, I thank you. Rest well."

Lulu walked out of the tent and left a gaping Toby and a smiling Yuna. Toby thought he was going to get the biggest reaming of his life but then Lulu went and did this. Rikku chose this moment to walk into the tent carrying a small tray of food.

"Special order for Toby! Breakfast!"

This snapped Toby out of his reverie quickly. Giving a hurried thanks to Rikku, he turned to the food on the tray, suddenly ravenous. Rikku sat next to him, giggling at his antics and when he choked on his food. Once Toby had gotten enough to settle down he asked Rikku and Yuna,

"Why aren't Tidus, Kimahri, and Auron around my sickbed? Don't they care or something?"

Yuna grasped her hands tightly and Rikku bit her bottom lip. Toby sensed the change in atmosphere and instead asked,

"What's wrong? Did something happen? Are they alright?"

"They're...They're helping to collect the bodies."

The tray of food clanged on the hard ground. Toby felt numb. He had nearly forgotten the carnage that Sin had left behind. Foregoing the pain in his body, he stood up and ran outside. What he saw made him want to fall to his knees.

Bodies, hundreds of bodies were lying before him. Some were covered with blankets, others were in the open, bleeding, dismembered, broken, faces stuck in an expression of sheer terror. Slowly, Toby walked in between them in a trance-like state. The war in Iraq was nothing...nothing compared to the carnage that lay before him. He came across a warrior monk desperately struggling to keep his breath of life. He kneeled next to him without knowing why and quietly grasped the monk's hand in his. The monk locked eyes with him, eyes pleading, and gave him his last request,

"My daughter...give this..to my daughter. I beg of you!"

He handed a locket to Toby and closed his fingers around it. The warrior monk had more to say,

"I told her-I told her that she was a fool. I told her she was a fool for doing what she loves. The last thing she ever heard from me was how much I was disappointed in her. Please! I can't die knowing that she will never know how much I love her! Please, give her this locket!"

Toby didn't even know who this man was. He had just met him here, in this beach of death. And yet, he found himself not caring whether this was a stranger or not. He didn't care that his chances of finding this man's daughter were near zero. He nodded and whispered that he would find his daughter and give him his message of love. The warrior monk's eyes finally relaxed as he half-smiled.

And he became still. His eyes no longer expressive. His hands slowly becoming cold. His grip becoming slack. Toby continued to look at the man's face and slowly, gently, laid his fingers on the man's eyes and closed them.

"You can rest easy, old man. I promise."

Toby didn't flinch when he saw the man slowly become a mass of pyreflies that floated away. He somehow knew, this man had died without unrest, his hopes now lying with Toby. Toby slipped the locket around his neck and felt it sit with his lucky charm. He instinctively knew that he wasn't meant to open it. That honor would lie only with the daughter of this brave man.

Toby stood up and continued to walk amongst the dead bodies, not knowing that Rikku and Angel were watching him sadly. He reached a small inlet and saw Auron standing there watching Tidus run to the edge of the water. Kimahri was not far away setting down a small body carefully. A young boy had slipped amongst the ranks during the fighting and had been struck down.

"I hate you, old man! I hate you! Don't you run from me! I swear to you, I will stop this! I swear!"

Toby watched Tidus scream at the still visible Sin retreating from the beach with detachment, not really understanding what was going on. He stood next to Auron and watched as Yuna, once again, performed a Sending ritual. The first time he saw it, it was magical. This time, the Sending was horrifying. He finally understood what the Sending was. It was a dance of death for the dead. It was awful that one person had to take each and every one of these dead people's feelings and move them along into the next life. Toby's respect for Yuna increased ten-fold. How she managed to get through every day with a smile on her face and such a bright out-look was beyond his comprehension. He had thought himself pretty mature. Yuna outshone his maturity and always would as long as she continued on this path.

Tidus finally ran out of breath and was on all fours panting. Yuna went over to comfort him. Wakka walked up next to Toby and crossed his arms, his face suddenly serious.

"You've never really experienced Sin before, have you? You see all of this? All the pain that Sin causes? This is why we're journeying so much. Yuna is on her pilgrimage. She's a Summoner and only Summoners can defeat Sin. All we can do is do our best to protect her along the way."

"But you make it sound like there are more Summoners. Surely the older Summoners could have beaten Sin themselves? I hear the word "Summoner" everywhere, there's got to be a bunch of them, right?"

"Yeah, there are. But every time Sin is defeated he comes back ten years later, after the Calm."

"But that's stupid! Why can't the ones who beat Sin before just do it again? Why does Yuna have to go through all of this pain? Why do all of them have to be forced to go through all of this pain when there are others who have already done it?"

"..."

Toby turned to look at the retreating form of Sin, still visible against the horizon. He made a silent oath to himself that he would find a way to defeat Sin, once and for all and make sure that no one else would have to go through all the pain again. He was a Marine. He was a protector of the people and their freedoms and happiness. He wouldn't go back on his word.

"I promise."

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alright, so after a long long time, I'm working on this story again. a lot more history and drama than before, i like it. for those of you who dislike Angel, I can understand. when you first read this story, it looks like she's a Mary Sue, huh? But there's more to the character of "Angel" than meets the eye. more's being revealed about her past with Toby before the two of them ended up here.

to those of you complaining about Angel, I made her this way because I want to focus on the redemption of characters. there's nothing like bloody war against an indestructible creature of destruction that can change a person, right?


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